


Beauty and a Beat

by zoe_marie888



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe, Ballet, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23787556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoe_marie888/pseuds/zoe_marie888
Summary: Just a normal day in Riverdale for Jughead Jones, but the arrival of a new girl changes everything.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 11
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter One

** Beauty and a Beat **

Slamming closed the door of his beat up truck; Jughead caught a glimpse of his reflection in the grimy window and he barely recognised the person staring back at him. Quickly running his fingers through his floppy brown hair, before pulling his familiar beanie back into place, he pulled open the door again to locate his sunglasses, hoping that they would disguise his lack of sleep. Slinging his heavy book bag over his shoulder, Jughead headed across the grass towards a familiar group of people hanging at the edge of the quad under an old oak tree. The crisp fall breeze rustled through the leaves, swirling around the enclosed space and causing him to pull the sleeves of his flannel shirt down over his hands, from underneath his well-worn denim jacket. Sighing exhaustedly, the dark grey building loomed ominously; dragging at his mood, as he mentally ran down his schedule for the day. It was only the middle of October but the workload for his senior classes had increased drastically over the last couple of days. On top of that, it was his turn to be at the club early in order to sign for the drinks delivery, which would quickly be followed by his night shift. Shaking his head in defeat and decided that it was best just to take it one hour at a time, he fixed a smirk onto his face as he reached his friends.

Waving slightly as a greeting, his best friend Archie broke away from the group to join him. “Hey Jug!” he called, curling his fist and bumping it gently against Jughead’s. At six foot five with a natural ability to throw a football, Archie could have easily blended into the athletic students, but instead he was studying a double major of music and composing. His reasoning behind his was ‘he liked to exercise his mind’ and stuck to playing football in his free time. Having been friends since they were four years old, Jughead knew better than to question his logic. “How was the club last night?” Archie questioned, sliding his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, and handing over a brown bag containing a breakfast bagel and a large black coffee.

“Full of students until three AM, so takings were just above average” Jughead stifled a yawn behind his hand, as he dug around the bag for the food. He didn’t need to mention to Archie that he had also slept in the back office. No reason to worry his friend. “Thankfully Thursday nights are generally quieter, so hopefully I’ll see my bed tonight by two.”

“Man, you work too hard,” Archie replied shaking his head slightly as disbelief coloured his dark brown eyes. “Your next day off I propose that we spend the afternoon relaxing. We will spend a couple of hours having a gaming marathon, before ordering an obscene amount of Chinese food and a few beers. Plus my Dad mentioned he hadn’t seen you in a while. Something about there being more food in the fridge than usual.”

“Yeah, that does sound good,” he sighed optimistically, meanwhile wondering when it was going to happen due to his crazy schedule. Even over the summer, he was managing to clock in a 60 hour week at the club, which meant that socialising was near impossible. “I’ll check the schedule at work for next week, but Mondays are usually the best for my day off.”

“Right, I will pencil you in for then. I can’t remember the last time we...”

“What _is_ that noise?” Jughead questioned, cutting Archie off mid-sentence and turning around to look back in the direction he had just come from, just as a huge black and red motorbike roared into the car park, attracting the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

“Well it looks like Daddy has been buying Reggie another extravagant present again,” Archie muttered behind him, disregarding the appearance of such an expensive vehicle by pulling out his phone again, probably to schedule their plans into his calendar. “I don’t know how you can stand being in the same town as that guy, let alone the same school.”

“Yeah, well it’s not like I have much choice,” Jughead mumbled, rolling his eyes towards Archie trying to play off the comment. Glancing back, Jughead realized most of the other groups hanging around the quad also had immediately reverted back to their previous conversations, but for some reason he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the rider. If it was the person Archie had assumed it was, then the reason he would be looking should be pure disgust, but this felt different. It was as though his subconscious knew something he didn’t.

Watching transfixed, as the rider swung a black, leather-clad leg over the rear of the bike, standing straight for a second before reaching up to pull off a co-ordinating red helmet with black visor. Jughead couldn’t help but notice how slender the rider was, even with the bulky leathers on and from their outline their assumption couldn’t possibly be right. Blinking to ensure he wasn’t still dreaming, or hallucinating from sleep deprivation, his heart raced in anticipation as they lowered the helmet revealing a mass of blonde hair, which quickly unravelled one it was freed, swinging down to her slender waist in long waves. For a split second she looked directly at him as the crisp breeze played with the few shorter curls that had fallen forwards, touching the corner of her jaw.

Sucking in his breath in shock, Jughead could feel his jaw drop open but had no way to correct it. “Wow,” he breathed, louder than he thought, attracting Archie’s attention again, as she broke the eye contact to brush her hair back away from her face. “Who is she?” he questioned rhetorically, following her long graceful stride as she weaved through the crowds towards the main building, catching the interest of every male on the way.

“Where did she come from?” Archie questioned, in disbelief looking over Jughead’s shoulder for an answer.

“She was on the bike,” he replied without thinking, pulling off his beanie and running one hand through his dark hair before replacing it again and suddenly feeling more alive than he had done in a long time. “I’ll see you in lectures. I’m going to find Roni to get some answers.”

Without waiting for an answer, Jughead set off towards the main doors following the mysterious girl, readjusting his bag as he walked to a more comfortable spot and throwing his empty cup into the bin on the way past. Weaving his way through the loitering students in the hallway, he kept an eye out for the new girl but she was nowhere to be seen. It was as though she had walked through the door and vanished into thin air, as there wasn’t even a reaction of staring males giving a hint to which way she walked.

“Morning Jug,” a voice caught his attention off to one side, and he glance over to see a brunette girl leaning against a nearby locker. He searched his memory for her name, settling on Ethel, as she twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers.

“Oh, hey,” he replied half-heartedly, as he continued to glance around the hall for the mysterious girl. “Have you seen...Roni?” he quickly self-corrected, watching as her thick, black eyelashes dropped down to her cheeks.

“In the pool, as usual,” Ethel muttered, turning around in a flurry of mousey brown hair to open her locker.

Looking at her back and raising an eyebrow, wondering what just happened but not having the energy to figure it out; Jughead turned back on him self and headed towards the Olympic-sized swimming pool at the edge of the campus. Pushing through the bright yellow double doors, he was immediately hit by the wall of heat and he felt his clothes start to stick to his body as the humidity enveloped him. It was a welcome change to the crisp breeze outside, but Jughead began to feel drastically over-dressed.

Stepping carefully down the viewing area, Roni was easily spotted, as there was nobody else dedicated enough to get a workout in before lectures began and the pool was otherwise empty. Being far too impatient to wait for the length of the pool to be completed, he grabbed one of the small red balls that are usually used for diving practice from the side, throwing it carefully into the pool just in front of the line of travel as a distraction.

Pulling up short and automatically treading water whilst scanning the pool, Roni smiled slightly before ducking back under the surface to grab the ball before swimming to the side. “Hey Jug, you finally given in and decided you want to take me out on a date yet?” Roni popped back up again, moving her weight onto her elbows and leaving her long, lean body floating out behind her.

“Not exactly,” Jughead blushed slightly, pushing his sleeves up his arms trying to find some relief from the heat whilst Roni laughed at his reactions to her teasing. “I was actually wondering if you know who the new girl is, since you seem to know everything.”

Pulling her body up out of the water, sitting on the side and slowly pulling off her swimming cap, Roni let her long brown hair settle around her shoulders, purposely stretching time out to torture him. “Well, there is some perks of being the Principle’s daughter I suppose,” she teased, with mischief dancing behind her chocolate brown eyes as she raised her eyebrow at him, causing Jughead to sigh exasperated. “Oh, fine. Don’t explode,” she laughed. “Her name’s Elizabeth Cooper and she transferred here from New York. I’ve been assigned to be her student mentor for the first week, and I am meeting her in the office at nine o’clock for the tour,” she finished, standing up to her full height and snapping her swim cap back into place before adjusting to dive back into the pool.

“Erm… Roni,” Jughead started hesitantly, once he realized what she was doing. “You do realize that you have five minutes to get changed and get to the meeting, right?”

“What… No not again,” she panicked, looking around at the large clock above the bleachers. “Daddy is going to kill me if I am late for another one of these,” she finished, sliding her feet into her nearby black flip flops, and wrapping herself in a large cream towel that looked like it had been made out of the softest material Jughead had ever seen. “Catch you at lunch?” she questioned, not waiting for an answer before disappearing through to the changing rooms.

Turning back around to head out to his first class, he was happier that he had at least an name to the new face, and hopefully Roni would have more information at lunch. Jughead’s stomach woke up at the mention of food, and he dug around his bag for any available granola bar that could be hiding in there. Half way across the quad he heard the door behind him slam, and he saw the streak of Roni rushing across to the main building in her designer high heels and matching massive handbag. Shaking his head, he found what he was looking for before slouching into the lecture hall and taking a seat near the back.

* * *

Throwing his book back into his bag and finally leaving the lecture hall, Jughead trekked down the deserted hallway in the direction of the quad to meet up for lunch. The rest of the class had been let out ten minutes earlier when the bell rang, but his professor had made him stay extra to discuss the higher level coursework Jughead was completing. Turning the corner he immediately notices Elizabeth up ahead, pulling a large bag out of her locker before slamming it closed and heading down the corridor away from him, her blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders. She was now dressed differently, with light blue jeans and a pale pink sweater on. As she walked she pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket, consulting the page before taking a sharp right turn and heading down a flight of stairs.

Figuring she was consulting a map, and that she must be lost, Jughead quickened his pace to catch up with her to help, assuming that she would be meeting up with Roni for lunch as she was the only person she currently knew. Glancing down the stair well, he was surprised with how fast she was travelling, as it was now completely deserted once again. Confused, he went down one flight, knowing that you could get to the quad that way but it was a longer route. In the distance below he heard one of the fire doors close, so quickly descending another staircase, he pulled up short as he saw Elizabeth through the glass doors, pulling a long brass key out of her pocket before sliding it into the first door on the right and disappearing from view with the black bag quickly following her. In the quiet of the hallway, it was easy for Jughead to hear the lock of the door being clicked back into place. Looking around this wasn’t a part of the school that Jughead, or anyone else, usually came down to as it was old classrooms filled with broken or out-of-date equipment. He had been roped into carrying a pile of broken chairs down here in his freshman year and dumping them into one of the rooms of the left with the janitor, and he hadn’t thought about it since.

Confused at how she had a key, but looking like she wasn’t going to appear again anytime soon, he headed back up one level, shrugging his way through the double doors, and spotting Archie’s bright red hair immediately, going to sit down.

“How was your morning?” Archie questioned enthusiastically, his friend once again reminding him of an oversized puppy, but then he pushed a pastami sandwich and a plate of fries over, and Jughead felt mean.

“Yeah, not too bad,” he replied, sinking his teeth into one of the fries and immediately knowing that this wasn’t cafeteria food, neither had been the breakfast from this morning. Raising an eyebrow at his friend, who quickly brushed it off with a shake of his head, Jughead decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, as he was unsure what exactly he will be eating later on tonight. “Have you seen Roni? She said she would meet us here.” He questioned, pretending not to notice that Archie perked up at the sound of her dropping by.

“No not yet,” Archie replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. I saw her briefly when I was on the football field during second period, but she was in the distance showing that new blonde haired girl around.” His friend started looking around expecting to see designer heels heading his way.

“Oh,” Jug replied, casting his gaze back down at the food as some of Archie’s football friends came over to the table, and allowing his mind to think about the mysterious blonde once again.

* * *

Let me know what you think. It's been a while since I posted anything x


	2. Chapter Two

The remainder of the week passed slowly for Jughead, with his time split between school and working until close at the White Wyrm, a bar off the beaten track in Riverdale that was popular with college students due to its inability to card most people. He had been right in thinking that Thursday had been slower than the previous day, but by the time he had trudged through the pile of homework that had been set, it was closing on four o'clock once again, and his stomach was grumbling in protest at having not eaten anything of substance since lunch.

Friday passed in a similar fashion. Jughead had seen Roni and Archie from across the car park, with their head huddled together, but Roni had disappeared before he could catch up to them. Archie had passed him a take-out box filled with cold, leftover pizza for breakfast before he quickly followed Roni into the building and heading down towards the music corridor. He had seen Elizabeth briefly throughout the day, usually with her rushing from one location to the next, with her blonde waves rippling behind her. He hadn't realized until the end of the class that she was a part of his creative writing course. She had been sat at the back closest to the door, and it wasn't until he had seen her hair unravelling from a twist on the back of her head as she removed the pencils holding it up as she descend the stairs that he noticed. Roni had been surprisingly absent from lunch, which was fine as Jughead had been too tired to consider socialising, so took the food Archie had pushed into his hands on the way past and had a half an hour nap in his truck once he had wolfed it down.

Saturday and Sunday had passed in a blur of drunk students trying, and failing, to ignore their problems; homework, and a serious lack of sleep. Even though he had been forced to clock out at midnight both nights, the noise from the bar meant that it was impossible to get some rest. Once again cursing whoever came up with the 24 hour liqueur licensing, he finished proof reading his latest book assignment whilst snacking on peanuts pilfered from the bar. As predicted he was scheduled to be off on Monday, so he had texted Archie, albeit at a reasonable hour, confirming their plans, and he had a goofy smiley face in response from him.

Luckily, Monday morning classes were scheduled so that Jughead had free study periods, and he only had one class straight after lunch. This free time was usually split, either between the school library, as Jughead revelled in the quiet space after the unrelenting juke box beat over the weekend, or in the laundrette as he washed everything he owned with the exception of what he was currently wearing. Luckily, or lazily depending on how he wanted to look at it, everything he owned could be put together into one wash, saving his quarters for a chocolate bar as everything was tumble drying. Giving everything a rough fold and throwing it back into the hold-all that it came in, he slung it onto the passenger seat and headed over to campus to catch the tail end of the lunch break. Pausing by the lockers, Jughead transferred everything he didn't need out of his bag. He didn't like to carry too much around, but also he didn't like leaving his stuff in the back room of the bar. He didn't fear that anyone was going to steal it, most of it was pretty worthless anyway, but if he had to suddenly move he didn't want the hassle of packing everything up again. Shrugging at that mildly depressing thought, he re-shouldered his bag and headed towards class. A beep from his phone alerted him to a message from Archie stating that he has football practice last period, which was likely to run over as they had a big game coming up. Jughead replied saying that it wasn't a problem. This was a common occurrence, so Jughead either waiting in the library, getting a jump start on any assignments, or he would head over to Archie's house early. Growing up it had always been a second home to him, with Archie's parents always treating like one of their own. He even had a door key attached to his truck keys, but he only ever used it in emergencies. The last one was when the power went out at the Drive-In a couple of months ago, a few days before it had been bulldozed, causing the little projection booth that he had been crashing in to be plunged into below-freezing temperatures. The heater of his truck did little to warm him on the drive over in the darkness, and nothing was mentioned the following morning when Archie's dad, Fred had come downstairs to discover him asleep on the sofa, with pretty much all of his clothing layered on, and under a mound of blankets.

Sliding into his preferred seat in the classroom, the one halfway down so it was close enough to see the screen properly, but not so close that he would be called upon to answer questions, and right up against the wall so that he lean his shoulder against it as he wrote, Jughead pulled out a tattered paperback out of his bag to occupy himself with. It was one from the suggested reading list that he had managed to pick up cheap from the charity shop. Someone who had graduated the year before had donated the full list, so Jughead had managed to get everything at a fraction of the cost and they were stored at the bottom of his locker while his circled his way through them all.

Class passed slowly, thankfully ending early as the professor gave everyone that hadn't completed their assignment time to finish it off. Jughead pulled his from the binder in his bag, dropping it onto the small pile before heading out. The corridors were still relatively quiet, so a locker slamming at the opposite end reverberated down, drawing Jughead's attention to the source. Standing with her forehead against her closed fist that was pressed against the lockers, Elizabeth looked like she was waging a war with herself. Her free hand was also clenched against her left thigh, slowly rubbing down the seam of her black jeans as she took a deep breath, before squaring her shoulders and straightening back up again. Grabbing the sports bag by her converse covered feet, as slight grimace flashed across her face by the movement, and she pushed her long waves away from the shoulder of her deep blue hoody as she settled the bag into place before turning on her heel.

Knowing that he was coming across weird, Jughead was drawn to her, following her footsteps down the stairwell from a distance, being pulled by an invisible force, and seeing her once again disappear through the same door on the right of the dark corridor. Pushing through the glass double doors, even though he had no destination in mind, Jughead cursed under his breath as the door slammed behind him causing him to stop two feet away from the closed door that she had disappeared through. Feeling like a startled deer, he made the snap decision to dart past the door towards the next one in the row, as this was closer than running back the way he came, praying that this one wasn't locked. Jughead pushed his back flat against the wood, turning the handle blindly behind his back and slipping thorough the smallest space possible. Breathing deeply, he turned clockwise in the dimly lit room, his eyes flickering past the dark outlines of forgotten furniture arranged similarly to the lecture hall, with five ascending tiers of chairs and desks that had been covered roughly with dust sheets. These looked better quality than the lecture hall however, with padded swivel chairs and large, spacious desks. Turning towards the source of the light, there were no windows down the parallel wall, so he figured that they must be in the basement level of the school. Glancing to his right, completing the 180 degree turn, he froze once again, seeing Elizabeth standing on the opposite side of a huge glass wall. She was hesitating near the door on her side, her eyebrows knitted together as she stared at the door handle, before moving and turning the key in the lock, effectively locking herself in, and she pulled on the handle to double check. Jughead held his breath, knowing that if she turned another 90 degrees to her right, she would see him, clear as day through the glass, like a rabbit caught in headlights, less than ten feet away from where she stood. There was nowhere to hide quickly, at least nowhere that wouldn't attract her attention to his movement. He could hear his pulse thundering in his ears, as she continued to turn, looking directly at him, and moving closer to the glass. He could see her so clearly, to the different streaks of colour though her honey blonde hair, with some strands being more sun-bleached than others, almost platinum in places. He could see her deep green eyes, framed by long dark eyelashes, mesmerising him. He could see everything, and yet she didn't flinch at seeing him there. Her long fingers moved, and he expected the worst, but they continued upwards, scraping the stands of fine hair away from her face, gathering and twisting it up into a bun on the crown on her head, turning this way and that on the other side of the glass to check her progress and smoothing down the flyways, pinning them into place with bobby pins pulled off the hem of her hoody.

Confused, Jughead looked around the room, still afraid to move anything other than his eyes. To his right a large 'Talk Back' button was labelled, and above the wall of glass there was a continuing message of 'Do not touch the mirror – under any circumstances' repeated across the whole length.

'Mirror?' he wondered, glancing back to where Elizabeth was stood, now satisfied with her hair and turning to unzip her hoody to dump on the floor on top of what Jughead realized where her bike leathers and collecting her bag before heading across the wide open space towards an archway at the back of the room, disappearing from view. With the tension leaving his shoulders, Jughead could now focus on her side of the glass and the vast expanse of varnish hardwood floor stretching from corner to corner, meeting up with a wall of polished mirrors down the left hand side. Towards the back between the corner and the door she had disappeared through, a collection of free standing wooden poles had been grouped together, with one individual one being pulled further into the room, perpendicular to where he was standing. Creeping closer to his glass wall, he tried to get a further read on the room, but he realized that with two of the walls being fully mirrors, his perspective was flawed. His glass wall was a one-way mirror, and he was completely hidden from view. _How was all this extra space hidden underneath the school?_ He wondered. _How did she know about it, and how did she get the key to it?_

Finally trusting himself to move, now that he knows that he couldn't be seen, Jughead allowed his bag to slip from his shoulder to the floor, venturing further into the room and sliding into the closest swivel chair that had been hidden under the dust sheet. Pulling off his beanie and running his hands through the dark mess of waves underneath, he threw the well-worn knit onto the desk in front. Jughead was known for liking a good mystery, and this girl definitely ticked that box, but this seemed something more.

Elizabeth padded her way back onto the hardwood floor, wearing a completely different outfit, pausing by the built in sound system on the wall by the archway and soft piano music filtered through the speakers on Jughead's side of the glass. Gone was the dark denim and oversized hoody, instead she was clad top to tow in pale pink and pastel colours. A lilac leotard that was pretty much backless with thin halter style straps hugged her upper body, with a matching sheer skirt wrapped around her hips. Pale pink tights clung to her legs, making them extend for days, ending in some soft slippers that she was pulling into place, and Jughead couldn't rip his eyes away. Her left hand once again was subconsciously fluttering against her thigh, and he could see a thick white bandage hidden underneath the pink tights, and she paused to pull a black support over everything.

_Ballet?_ He wondered, feeling like he was invading her personal space. She wasn't just coming down here to hide out, or like he was used to and bunking down in any available space. Jughead was mesmerised, but knew he had to leave. She turned towards his mirror once more, stopping by what he know realized was a ballet bar, and began a set of specific movements with her right hand gently holding the rail.

Grabbing his bag back off the floor, he pulled the door back open, pausing to make sure his movements hadn't been heard, but her green eyes didn't flicker away from her reflection in front of her as she continued repeating the same pattern of toe points and knee bends. Slipping out, he noticed the faded 'Examiners Only' sign as he held the door to stop it from slamming, and one piece of the puzzle slid into place, as he understood what room he had just been in. Just the motorbike riding, ballet dancing enigma left Jughead shrugged, taking the stairs back up to the main building as a message from Archie came though.

'Pit stop at Pops first?' he read, the suggestion making his stomach growl with just the thought. Archie really didn't need a reply to that once the 'Read' message had been received.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I had to re-upload chapter one as I noticed quite a few typos in the version I started with (all my own fault). Hopefully this chapter will be better. Le me know what you think x


	3. Chapter Three

Sliding into the usual booth in Pops, raising his hand in greeting towards Pop as he was refilling the coffee pot behind the counter, Jughead had managed to beat Archie to the diner, which meant that he could have his pick of booths and he slid into his favourite empty one on the side facing the door so he could people watch whilst waiting.

Automatically coming over with the fresh coffee, Pop flipped over the white cup resting on the table, filling it to the brim before pulling out his order pad. “You wanting your usual?” The older man asked, pencil poised.

“Yeah the usual sounds great Pop, but I’m meeting Archie, so should probably wait until he is here…” Jughead trailed off. “I think he has been keeping me in good supply of your food, as I have been too busy to get over in this direction.”

“I figured he was providing you. I know Archie is a growing boy but there is no way he has been eating everything he ordered,” Pop smirked, scribbling the order down, ripping off the top page before continuing on the one below, before meandering back to the counter. A few minutes later he reappeared with a pile of chilli-cheese fries, sliding it in front of Jughead. “Don’t want you wasting away while you wait,” he winked before going back to the other customers.

“Jug!” he heard his name being called as he was about a third of his way through the fries. Archie paused to speak to Pop briefly before sliding into the other side of the booth, his red hair still damp from his shower after practice. “Oh my God, where is the hat?!”

“Wha-,” he replied, reaching up and just touching hair. His beanie. Where was his beanie? His mind had been so preoccupied with thoughts of the Elizabeth mystery that he had completely forgotten to pick it back up. It was still on the desk in the Examiner’s Room. “Oh it developed a hole, so I’ve taken it off to stop it getting any bigger before I can fix it,” he bluffed, running his hands through his hair praying that it was behaving. “So, how was your weekend?” he asked to deflect the attention away from himself, scooping up another handful of fries and shovelling them in as Pop came over with two fully loaded burgers, sliding them in front of each of them.

“Yeah it was good. I spent most of Saturday at the pool timing Roni,” he started, and Jughead raised his eyebrows in response. “What?? She had a big competition coming up, so I was just helping out,” he laughed, the tips of his ears beginning to match his hair and he glanced up out of the window towards the dusty car park. “Speaking of, she said that she was going to swing by on her way home.”

Following his gaze to where his truck was parked, he smirked as he saw Roni’s convertible pull up in a cloud of dust and an eager look crossed Archie’s face that he tried to school before she reached the door. Roni stopped by the door, unwrapping her hair from its scarf and looking back over her shoulder, her black hair falling in a perfect sheet around her face, and she tapped her heel impatiently. Jughead wondered what was causing her delay, but then he heard it before he saw it, over the sound of the juke box. 

Rumbling into view, with the vibration echoing through Jughead’s chest, the now familiar black and red bike, with co-ordinating rider, as it skidded to a halt by Roni’s car. He watched as she cut the engine, pulling off her helmet, hooking it over the handlebar and letting her hair unravel down her back. It was back to being loose, and it was only slightly noticeable that it had been up earlier, with a deeper wave where the ponytail band had been. Swinging her leather clad left leg over the back of the bike, he noticed that she winced perceptively with the movement, before it smoothed over as she approached Roni.

Both girls entered the diner together, and Roni spotted them in their booth and headed over, with Elizabeth following a step behind, unzipping her bulky black and red leather jacket.

“Hey boys, fancy a milkshake?” Roni asked, slipping elegantly into the booth by Archie and crossing her high heel clad feet neatly under the table. She glanced upwards to his hair with a raised eyebrow, before ruffling her hand through the front section of her own hair, pulling it down towards her eye and then flipping it back into place again.

“Only if you’re buying,” Jughead quipped back faster than Archie could respond, knowing his answer would be the exact opposite. Roni stuck her tongue out in reply, still with a raised eyebrow. Following the que, Jughead pulled the front section of his hair back down, tucking it behind his ear as Roni nodded slightly before turning her attention back away.

“Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, officially meet my new BFF, Miss Elizabeth Cooper,” Roni gestured to the space by Jughead, and he slid further over in the booth to create more space. Shrugging off her jacket, and dumping it into the empty booth on the other side of the aisle, Elizabeth tugged the sleeve down on the dark blue long sleeve shirt she was wearing whilst rolling her eyes.

“Betty,” she corrected, glancing between Archie and himself. Her deep green eyes resting on his face, and her sandy blonde eyebrow scrunched up in confusion. “Jughead?” she questioned, in the most polite way possible.

“The Third,” he replied keeping a straight face, unable to pull his gaze away from her, before he cracked and smirked. “Trust me, the real thing is worse.”

Her gaze linger on him a moment longer, glancing over his face, “I’ll believe you.” She finally looked away once he slid the menu over to her.

The afternoon progressed, with much flirting back and forth between Archie and Roni whilst he and Betty looked on in amusement. Jughead noticed that her green eyes stared for a moment at the remainder of his burger before ordering a salad from Pop. She had asked for his recommendation, and laughed when he said the closest he got to salad was the sad attempt that came on top of whatever burger he ordered. He shuffled around in the booth, resting his head on his hand and his hair curled towards his wrist. Betty followed suit, resting her leather covered knee against his denim thigh as she got comfortable and then didn’t move it away. 

Jughead was quick to catch on that she didn’t like talking about her past. If anything did come up in conversation, he watched as she lowered her long dark lashes, looking at the limp remains of her salad and keeping her green eyes from view, before changing the subject to a lighter topic. As she was grabbing her jacket to leave, Jughead realized that all he had learnt about her past was that she had moved from the city three weeks ago. Roni quickly followed her out of the door, and he finally got Archie’s attention back again.

“You ready to lose at every game we are about to play?” Archie ribbed, moving over to the register to settle to bill, breaking him out of his thoughts as Eliz- Betty’s motorbike disappeared from view.

“I’m ready to eat the obscene amount of Chinese you bribed me with, as you lose,” he retaliated, draining the last of his coffee and headed towards his truck as Archie laughed.

* * *

The last lesson of the day was coming to a close and Jughead still hadn’t found an opportunity to slip away to retrieve his beanie from the basement room. Archie had been with him all morning, having crashed in his room late last night and had stayed the night. Takeout containers still littering the floor between Archie’s bed and the air mattress that Jughead had sprawled across, both with their respective controllers by their fingertips.

Jughead had also taken advantage of the Andrew’s plumbing and had taken a hot shower using decent shampoo, rather than sneaking into school early to use the locker rooms and his terrible 3 in 1 body wash. His hair had therefore taken on a life of its own as it dried, and he had stolen one of Archie’s slightly too big hoodies to hide underneath.

Lunch had passed in a flurry of activity, with him bolting the food Archie tossed his way on the way to the library to finish off the research paper that should have been completed last night.

Slipping furtively down the stairs, Jughead hadn’t seen Betty all day, but still didn’t want to be caught sneaking into the Examiner’s Room in the basement, as that would raise more questions that he could answer. There was a pale light streaming through the key hole of her door as he darted past, holding his breath as he opened the door and watching through the one way mirror to see if Betty noticed or heard his presence. She didn’t flinch.

The door clicked closed softly behind him, and Jughead allowed his bag to drop to the floor as he pushed the hoody back away from his face. His beanie was still sitting exactly as he left it on the front desk and he grabbed it eagerly, slipping it into place and trying to tame his hair under it. His gaze flashed frequently up through the glass, attempting to give Betty her privacy, but once again failing horribly. 

She looked different today. Still in the pastel leotard, a different colour today of a light blue that reminded him of a cloudless spring sky, but this one was long sleeved and high necked. She was sat on the floor in the centre of the room, her long legs clad in familiar pink tights stretched out in front of her, and her bare feet were rhythmically bending and flexing in time to the soft beat radiating throughout the room.

What was different today was the look of pain and frustration that was causing her eyebrows to furrow and her perfectly straight teeth to sink into her pink bottom lip. Between sets Jughead watched as she produced a tennis ball from the bag behind her, rolling it as she winced down the muscle in her left thigh. Even from her position on the floor he could see the thickening of the bandaged area where she was concentrating her attention, and her eyes screwed up in pain as she continued with her movements.

Jughead was torn. He wanted to give Betty her space, but he was mesmerised. The well-crafted façade that she had presented the previous night was gone, and he wanted to take her pain away. He knew that pain. He felt that pain. He still didn’t understand on how to ease that pain, but he wanted to help. He was seeing her physical pain, but he knew the root cause was the same. He subconsciously dropped down into the swivel chair.

Through the glass Betty threw the tennis ball with some force against the wall, watching as it bounced across the hardwood floor and coming to rest against the far wall of mirrors. A look of resolve flashed across her face, and with her jaw set, she grabbed her bag, pulling it closer to herself and digging through it, producing a set of pale pink shoes. These looked different to Jughead compared to the first pair he had seen her wear. They were the same colour, but these looked more substantial, with moulded toes and much longer ribbons. He watched fascinated as she slid her feet into them, wrapping the ribbons methodically around her ankles, and standing gracefully up to her full height.

Betty moved across the wooden floor, reaching for the bar positioned off centre, and began the routine of toe points and knee bends that he saw her start yesterday. Jughead watched for longer, as she changed sides to work each foot equally, and the new shoes elongated her toes and emphasised the curve of her foot. 

‘God she was beautiful,’ he thought, twisting the front section of his hair, which had escaped from under his hat, around his fingers absentmindedly. Betty changed sides once again, her left side closest to the bar, and slowly rose up onto her toes. Lowering herself, Jughead saw her jaw set firm, the muscle in her cheek jumping, as she rose fully up onto the tips of her toes, resting on the flatten section of the front of the shoes. Her knuckles were turning white against the bar as she tried to steady herself, before falling back to flat foot again. She shook her head, getting back into her starting position and trying again.

Jughead held his breath as she tried again. He could see the flex of her feet and calves as she tried to steady herself. The look of determination cracked as a flash of pain took over. Her left thigh gave way, leading to her entire left leg slipping from underneath her.

The vibration of her landing on the floor could be felt through the swivel chair, and Jughead jumped up so fast he almost collided with the glass as he darted around the desk. He could see the tears slide down her face as she curled into a ball under the bar.

“Shit…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think x


	4. Chapter Four

With his heart in this mouth, Jughead lunged for his bag, scrabbling around to try and find his phone, and praying that it was charged. ‘What should he do? Who should he call?’ he wondered, scrolling through his very limited contacts. Calling for an ambulance was an option, but was he panicking too much. She still hadn’t moved from her position on the floor, her ballet shoes being squashed at awkward angles between the floor and her upper legs.

Roni. Roni would know what to do, he decided, scooping up his belongings and darting out of the door. Pushing the call button, he listened anxiously to the ringer as he jogged up the stairs towards the quad and formulating a plausible story as to why he knew what he knew.

He was just about to give up hope, pushing his wayward hair from in front of his eyes, when it finally connected.

“Jug? Hey! You know when the thing you want always ends up at the bottom of your bag…” she answered, and he could hear the clicking of her heels against the pavement.

“Where are you?” he cut her off, and the clicking stopped as she pulled up short at his tone.

“Just heading towards my car after finishing today’s laps,” she replied in confusion. “Why? What’s up? Is it Archie?”

“Stay still I am coming to find you… Actually start walking to the quad and I will meet you halfway” he darted down a path in her direction. “Do you have Betty’s number?”

“Yeah…” she answered slowly.

“Great. Call her, and invite her somewhere. Don’t let her put the phone down. I think she is hurt, but she needs to tell you where she is and she won’t do that unless it is her last option, or unless you back her into a corner.” He explained badly, waiting for Roni’s mumbled conformation as she put the phone down on him. He rounded the final corner, his beat up Converse slapping against the concrete, and he could see Roni gesturing wildly whilst on the phone. As she pushed her dark hair back away from her face, she spotted him and started hurrying over.

Ending the call as she reached him, her fingers grabbed onto his arm, and Jughead could feel her fingernails sink into his skin through the fabric of Archie’s hoody. “What is going on?” she questioned, dragging him back in the direction he came and he knew that Betty had given up her location. He gave a brief overview, whilst lying through his teeth. He had been asked to take a broken chair down to the basement, when he heard Betty fall but the room she was in was locked and that is when he called Roni.

She seemed satisfied with his answer, as she clacked her way across the quad. Jughead normally wished that she would wear flats, but the heels really didn’t slow her down any, as she pulled open the door he had previously appeared through. Clattering her way down the stairs, Jughead followed a step behind, but nearly crashed into her when she pulled up short.

Betty was sitting on the final few steps, her jeans and hoody back in place, and her hair was still up in a ponytail rather than the neat looking bun it had been in minutes earlier. With no hair to hide behind, Jughead could see her sky blue leotard rising up from the neckline of the hoody, and he realized she must have pulled her street clothes on over the top of everything she was already wearing.

Roni descended the final few steps, folding her skirt against her legs as she sat down next to her, speaking in low tones as Jughead hung back. He watched as she flinched when Roni put her left hand against her right shoulder, and Betty gestured down to her leg.

“Can you stand?” Roni asked, rising to her feet and moving to stand at the bottom of the stairs. She gestured for Jughead to move down the final flight to stand next to her, as Betty grasped at the handrail and putting all of her weight on her right leg. If she objected to his presence she didn’t verbalise it. “What about the stairs?” Roni prompted, and Jughead watched as the now familiar sight of her jaw clenching as she prepared herself.

“No,” he stated, as she moved to turn and wobbled on her supporting leg, stepping forward to catch her as she slipped off the edge of the step. His arms automatically wrapped her against his chest, and he could see the blush spread across her high cheekbones.

“I’m fine,” she ground out through her gritted teeth, as she simultaneously pushed him away and gripped the material of the hoody by his shoulders as she used him for support. Raising his eyebrows he loosened his grip, but kept his hands hovering by her waist just in case, as she did a little shuffle hop back towards the stairs.

Huffing in exasperation, they both looked on as she attempted to lean all of her weight against the handrail as she moved to half hop, half drag her way up onto the first step. Next to him Roni sighed.

“Okay this is ridiculous,” Roni finally snapped, tapping her heel against the cheap school tiles. “Jughead pick her up and we will take my car to the doctors,” she demanded, throwing her hair over her shoulder and striding up the stairs.

“I’ve told you I’m fine,” Betty threw back, moving to negotiate the second step as Jughead hovered uncertainty behind her. “I’m not going to the doctors.”

“Yes you are. How do you expect to get home? I can _so_ see you riding your bike out of here,” she fired back, pulling her phone out of her bag and began tapping away, turning to ascend the second set. “I’ll make some calls and meet you at the car. Jug, throw her over your shoulder if you have to.”

They both watched open-mouthed as her heels disappeared from view and the door at the top slammed against the wall. Jughead looked back at Betty, her cheekbones still tinged pink from embarrassment and her jaw still set with determination.

“May I?” he questioned quietly, not wanting to touch her without permission. Her shoulders moved as she took a deep breath, and he thought she was about to hop up onto the next step, but instead her head fell towards her hands on the banister and she nodded once in defeat.

He moved slowly, wrapping his fingers around her right wrist to ease it up onto his shoulder before moving his left arm around her back by her shoulder blades. She stood up straighter, relinquishing her grip on the handrail and leaning more weight against him. Betty being one step higher actually turned out to be an advantage as he didn’t have to bend down as far to lift her up. Jughead gently eased his right arm behind her knees, pondering where to place his hand on her left leg, before settling on just below her knee, and pulling her up against his chest.

“Are you good?” he asked, acclimatising to her weight in his arms, but she was as light as JB had been when she had been ten years old, so it wasn’t a problem.

“Yeah,” she stuttered out, and he realized she was in more pain than she let on. Her left arm moved up to circle his neck, and she pressed her forehead against his neck and collarbone, ducking her head out of view.

* * *

The trip to the doctors was certainly interesting to say the least. Roni had lowered the roof, so that Jughead was able to gently drop her into the passenger seat without too much trouble and then he hopped over the side whilst she screamed about him damaging her paintwork, followed by him damaging her leather seats, and he laughed at her theatrics. She shut up long enough to look at him through the rear view mirror, before tearing out of the school car park.

There was next to no wait when they arrived at the doctor’s office. Betty had moved to climb out of the passenger seat by herself, before he pulled her back up into his arms, easier now as he had left his bag and Archie’s hoody in the back seat of the car. He felt her sigh in resignation against his neck, as her slender fingers rested against the bare skin of his arm.

Once inside he debated whether he set her back down again, or just sit with her on his knee as they waited, but the decision was made for him as they were called straight through. The doctor wanted to cut her jeans off in order to look at her leg, but as she quietly stuttered out that she wouldn’t be able to replace them, Jughead held her upright looking over her shoulder at the wall as Roni helped her shuffle out of them. The tension was great at distracting him from his hormones as her long pink tight clad legs came into view underneath the bottom of her leotard. With a nod of her head, she accepted that the tights would have to be cut, which Jughead was grateful for as he helped her onto the paper covered bed in the corner, as he didn’t think he would be able to stand by her if she had to remove her leotard that were holding them up as well.

He was about to move away towards the uncomfortable looking plastic chairs on the opposite side of the room, when one of her delicate hands slipped into his, stopping him in his tracks as her slender fingers threaded her way between his. Nodding in agreement, he stepped back closer by her head, as the doctor half cut, half ripped through the fabric covering her leg, revealing the heavy bandage covered with a support bandage. Lifting the material, the doctor cut through the support before unwrapping the long bandage, and Jughead looked on as the fabric began being spotted with bright red blood.

Pulling everything away, Jughead could see a long red wound down her left thigh closest to him, surrounded by long, light pink slash marks. Some sections of the biggest wound looked as though they were healing, but the bottom third looked red and angry. By him Betty gasped and whimpered, turning her head towards the beige wall away from him and the pressure on his hand increased.

“It looks like you have split your stiches,” the doctor commented, moving to grab supplies and began cleaning it up. “Looking at your file, you should have been using your crutches for at least another two weeks…”

Dragging his gaze away from her leg, Jughead left Roni to ask the relevant questions as he turned to look at Betty. Silent tears raced down her cheeks as she refused to look at either him or her leg. Perching gently on the edge of the bed, making sure he was not in the way of anything, he cradled her hand against his stomach and reaching forwards carefully to brush the tear that was going to drip from her jaw. The doctor finished, and he was aware that he had moved with Roni to the computer on the other side of the room.

Betty turned her head slightly, leaning into his touch as his thumb skimmed across her damp cheek as her breath hitched. Her bright green eyes locked with his for a moment as he watched the tears cling to the long dark lashes. Suddenly she was moving, managing to keep her legs perfectly still whilst folding up from the waist, throwing herself against his chest and trusting him to catch her.

* * *

Jughead wasn’t sure how long they sat there, with Betty wrapped up in his arms as she pushed her nose against his collarbone and soaked through the shoulder of his shirt with her tears. Roni eventually moved back over to where they were sitting, gently sliding Betty’s legs back into her jeans, and Jughead helped to support her as they manoeuvred her to stand. She turned very submissive as they got ready to leave, with the tears stopping and her face became passive as Jughead swung her back up into his arms and walked them back out to the car.

“Betty… Betty!” Roni finally got her attention as they were leaving the doctor’s car park. “Which direction is your house?”

“Oh… Its fine, you can just drop me back off at school… I need to get my motorbike,” she tailed off, turning her head to look out of the passenger window.

“What? No!” Roni shouted, the car wiggling slightly on the road and Betty’s reached out to grab hold of the door handle, her knuckles turning white. “You cannot possibly ride that bike until your leg had healed up properly,” Roni looked appalled.

“I have no other way of getting to school,” Betty eventually sighed.

Roni glanced over and rolled her eyes. “That’s fine, between me, Archie and Jug we can figure out a car pool,” she flipped her hand and arching her eyebrow until Betty gave her some directions. She turned the car towards the rough end of town. Not Southside rough, but not the best neighbourhood. The grass got longer and the pavements became more cracked. This isn’t where he imagined Betty living.

Pulling over when indicated, Roni quickly shuffled to answer her ringing phone as Jughead jumped out over the side again before helping Betty out of the car. Behind them a crumbling block of flats loomed.

“Sorry guys, I’m going to have to leave you here,” her deep brown eyes flashed guilty as she dropped her phone onto the now vacant passenger seat. “B, I will pick you up tomorrow morning?”

Betty nodded silently as Jughead gathered his stuff from the back seat, slinging his bag over his shoulder and throwing Archie’s hoody around his waist and tying it around his hips so that his hands remained free.

Have you got your key?” he asked gently, as Roni’s car turned the corner at the bottom and heading back toward town. Betty pulled it out of her pocket keeping her eyes trained on the floor as she handed it over. Her shoulders remained tense and her back ramrod straight as his lifted her up for the final time. Jughead carefully negotiated the worn down concrete steps at the front of the building, kicking open the first door with the broken lock, and following her quiet directions up to the fourth floor. The stairwell smelt of damp, and something else that Jughead really didn’t want to put a name to. He was glad when he saw that at least her front door looked secure, especially considering the rest of the building.

“Hold on tighter,” he muttered, freeing up one of his hands to unlock the door, sliding through and making sure he didn’t catch her feet on the door frame, before it swung shut behind them.

The apartment was small and cluttered in places, but clean he supposed, not that he could judge, or would judge. Betty gestured towards the sofa, and Jughead pushed the coffee table out of the way so that he could lower her down onto the threadbare cushions. She immediately curled into the scatter pillows across the back, pulling her one good knee up to her chest.

“Where are your crutches?” he questioned gently, her green eyes flashing up to his before they glanced over towards the door leading off the living room. Shuffling across the room, he pulled the door open, jumping as the hinges gave way and he was left holding the full door in his hands.

“Yeah, sorry I should have mentioned that,” he heard her small voice behind him, and he looked over his shoulder with his eyebrow raised. “It’s on the ‘to be fixed’ list.”

Leaning the door against the wall, he looked into the very small room that was filled to the brim with boxes. Feeling awkward digging through someone else’s stuff, he tried not to disturb too much until he spotted them under a suitcase that was far heavier than it looked at first glance.

Dropping them on the floor by the sofa, he lifted up her stretched out leg and sat down on the end with her foot resting on his lap. Her toes were perfectly pointed, seemingly without her realising, and he wrapped his fingers around the arch, massaging until her toes flexed and relaxed. “Just so you know, if you ever wanted to talk, I’m here,” he murmured quietly into the silence of the room, and he saw out of the corner of his eye as she nodded. Embarrassingly his stomach growled, breaking the tension of the room and she looked over and laughed gently.

“Okay, here is the plan. You get comfy and I am going to order pizza, then we are going to put a film on and forget about today. How does that sound? Do you need helping getting to your room?” Jughead suggested, and Betty perked up, before her eyes dropped once again.

“Erm, I don’t eat pizza, and that,” she said pointing to the box filled room, “is my bedroom… It’s on the ‘work in progress’ list.”

“Oh… okay,” Jughead faltered, glancing into the small room and thinking there is no way a bed could possibly fit even if it was empty. “Where have you been sleeping then?”

Her eyes glanced up before landing back onto the sofa. “There is a mattress that folds out, but it gets stuck and there isn’t really enough space so…”

“Okay, new plan. I will see if the pizza place also does salads, and I will nip into the hallway to make some calls, as you get yourself sorted. Plus the sofa is in a better position to view the tv anyway.” He watched as she nodded in agreement. “I’ll see if Archie can store your bike in his garage for the time being too.”

“Really? That would be amazing. Thanks,” she smiled shyly. Jughead patted her foot gently, before standing up and pulling his phone out his back pocket. “Hey,” she gently touched his wrist on the way past. “Thanks for today.”

“Not a problem,” he smiled, waiting for her hand to drop back down before heading towards the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think x


End file.
